NAKED AND UNASHAMED

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When Love Arrives

I KNEW EXACTLY WHAT LOVE LOOKED LIKE BY FIRST GRADE….

Love wore a smile when picking me up from school and passed along a hug and kiss as love wished me a goodnight. Love wrestled with me on the living room floor and got after me when I climbed on the curtains instead of looking through the peep hole on the front door. Love danced, sang and ran with me while stains from lunch graced my pink and purple shirt. Love held me captive when I looked into everyone’s eyes, seeing nothing but a new friend with an equally human heart. And love gave me courage when I proposed to Sean Carrigan at age 5…Love also gave me an overwhelming NO!

BUT WHEN LOVE FINALLY SHOWED UP…

It rang of divorce, broken promises, fighting and harsh words. Love asked that I wear makeup, revealing clothes and loose morals because by then love had convinced me I was worth nothing more. Love only gave when it expected something in return and asked that I give all of me if I wanted to be “cared for.” When love finally showed up, it stopped looking so much like love; it stopped being an action and simply became empty words.

WHEN LOVE TRULY FOUND ME…

It sat with me every hour. Love held me, forgave me and asked for nothing but faith in return. Love no longer looked like a hug or fake smile but tears as love gave everything just to hold me and keep me close. Love was no longer a feeling or empty words, but selfless action, true compassion and honest words. Love granted endless chances and comfort when it hurt and most importantly helped me realize, I have to stop trying to put myself first.

Love is still working on me each and everyday but love will keep trying because that’s the promise love made.

Deuteronomy 31:6 (NASB) – “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”

#Lovewon on the cross and asked for nothing but faith in return. Love is already famous but each day I struggle to find where love is truly known.

Ephesians 2:4-10 (NASB) – “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

At the end of your road you will never say, I wish I had loved people less.